Welcome, True Believers, to an astounding new edition of Superhero Roundup, where we take all the best tidbits from today’s superhero flick news and deliver them to you in one easy to digest, high fiber caplet.

It’s another all-Marvel edition, and we begin with the mutants.

Bryan Singer talks X-Men: First Class, The Hellfire Club and Sequels

Bryan Singer, the producer of X-Men: First Class and director of X-Men and the now classic X2: X-Men United, sat down for an in-depth interview with IGN Movies this week, and spent a lot of time discussing the upcoming X-Men prequel, including info on why he decided to include The Hellfire Club in the flick, how the characters relate to those in the original films, and the possibility of sequels.

On The Choice Of Title And Its Meaning:

It was initially a title I liked. I knew that there was exploration of doing a movie based on the First Class comic book, but I thought that to earn that or to get there, it would be interesting to go back to the origin of the X-Men. The formation of the relationship and the schism between Xavier and Magneto. And yet I still liked the title First Class because it reflected that concept every bit as much as the comic it’s based on, so I just decided that I would pursue that story of young Xavier and young Magneto but retain the title First Class as a sort of beginning of the X-Men and they could go from there.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

On How He Came Up With The Story:

Oh something I came up with just based on… When I made the first two X-Men films I was conscious of figuring out how to play the relationship between Magneto and Xavier and I was always very conscious of what their past must have been. What their friendship was like. So that back-story was always playing in my head whenever I was discussing scenes with Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. So this was a chance to finally go back and explore the history that was always bouncing around in my mind when I was making those other movies.

On Deciding Which Characters To Include In The Movie:

You first freak out because you assume that the good ones have already been picked. Then you just pick up the books and start reviewing and researching. I felt like I was back in the late ’90s again, going through all the character histories and biographies and the comic books and graphic novels, and trying not to violate the tableaux but at the same time trying to have mutants that service different aspects of your story. Where their powers move the story forward as opposed to just being there to be cool.

On The Inclusion Of The Hellfire Club:

The Hellfire Club is actually something that [producers] Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg had mentioned to me early on. It’s something that we had discussed years ago, to incorporate them into an X-Men film, but we never quite found a way to do so. So Lauren brought it up again and I thought great, because it again plays into the idea of them being underground. Because the whole idea of the Hellfire Club is that they are an underground club, and that’s perfect because we’re dealing with a time when the world doesn’t know that mutants exist. What better villain element than one that exists under the surface of society? And to have the mutants intertwine with the geopolitical events of the time.

On Kevin Bacon As Sebastian Shaw:

Kevin is just a fantastic actor and we’ve seen him be very charming and funny and we’ve seen some of his darker side in a couple of pictures, but he hasn’t really done this sort of thing yet. He’s quite phenomenal – he speaks multiple languages in the film flawlessly, and he’s at that age now where his boyish charm can now be transformed into one of those seductive villains. And he plays it quite well – it’s fun to watch him on set.

On How The Movie Ties In With The Original Trilogy:

I think the chronology works – there are some liberties, but for the most part, it makes sense. The characters make sense. Which is why Beast and Mystique were the only two I could bring back because you don’t really know how old they are.

On Setting A Sequel In The 1970s or 1980s:

Absolutely. That would be a blast

.On Whether He Has A Master Plan For A Trilogy Of Movies:

Just on this one. I think that whenever people claim they have long-range plans for these things… I think what happens is you really have to see how the first one plays, how audiences respond, which characters and points of the story they respond to, and then reassess it and go from there. In my mind, that’s the way I think about it.

On What Matthew Vaughn Brings To X-Men: First Class:

He’s incredibly good with ensemble casts, which was the most important thing. He can service many characters, each with their own separate characterisations, each driving a common story. And he already had a love of the X-Men universe from when he had been involved in X-Men 3. And he immediately took to the period that it took place. He’s a huge fan of the Bond films, and he wanted to use some of that aesthetic in this film, and I thought that was really fantastic. He’s a terrific director and he’s a strong director, and he’s also produced and has his own team. To dive into one of these movies can be very challenging – all these things kind of going against you, and he was at a place where I knew he could take these things on and wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

In an interview with Today Online to promote the ever-closer release of Thor, Natalie Portman revealed that she isn’t signed on to appear in 2012’s The Avengers, despite rumors to the contrary. She did let slip, however, that she’s agreed to be in two Thor sequels, if they happen. On a different note, apparently most of the rest of this interview was about how much she loves Thor director Kenneth Branagh.

On how Thor compares to other action adventure movies she has been in:

“Well, it was really amazing to get to work with (Thor director) Ken Branagh on this and that was the biggest draw for me in the beginning. On some of the big action films, things like character and story can get a little lost and be overshadowed by all the big bang stuff. With Ken, he was very concerned with the text and with our characters. It was like, “We’re going to work on this as if it were Shakespeare …”

On if she read Thor comics before she shot the movie:

They showed me the Thor comic books when we started talking about it but, really, the first thing that interested me was working with Ken. I must have watched Much Ado About Nothing like 500 times – I love that film so much. (Laughs) He’s just so wonderful and has really the best spirit and energy and focus, and it was so exciting to go to work every day. I can’t say enough about Ken. He’s lovely.

On Chris Hemsworth:

He’s such a sweet guy. He’s incredible and a really talented actor. Ken told me from Day 1 how wonderful he is and there’s no better judge than Ken. But, on top of that, he is deeply nice – like just a really good person and unaffected by all of this hoopla.

He could do everything both physically and emotionally, and playing Thor is a part that is very demanding on both levels. You have to get the tone right and try to make it realistic in a heightened world. It’s a comic book movie but you also want to relate to the guy. Chris just nailed it.

On if she is in any other Marvel movies:

I’m not in The Avengers, but I’m signed up for the next two (Thor) sequels if they are made. I think these inter-related Marvel movies are great fun. The Avengers will be like Ocean’s Eleven with the superhero all-stars!

Isaiah Mustafa Wants to Be Luke Cage and Kick Crime’s Ass in Harlem, All While Smelling Great

In an interview with SHH, Isaiah “Old Spice Guy” Mustafa spoke at length about his commitment to work with Marvel on their tentative Luke Cage (Power Man) project, including why he’s drawn to the character (because he helps out his community), why he’s a Marvel Man and what progress he’s made on getting to play the character so far. Personally, I’m fine with this, as long as he gets to ride a horse backwards at least once.

Are you trying to get meetings with Marvel?

I’ve already had a meeting with Marvel. I talked to them and I told them that I was a gracious reader of their comics and that I wanted to be Luke Cage. So we’ll see where they take it.

We see it, but why Luke Cage? There are a handful of heroes over there that you might be also right for, but why him in particular?

When you say “handful” you’re not joking around, but it’s because what’s going on with him right now in the Marvel Universe. I think all their [early black] characters were these Blaxploitation characters – these jokey, clownish characters – but now they’ve really developed the African-American characters. Luke Cage has a lot going on. He’s this man, he’s got all these powers and abilities and he can use them to save whatever major city, but instead of doing that he uses them to help Harlem. He wants to fix his neighborhood, and that’s what’s so admirable to me. Instead of leaving and going someplace bigger, he stays right where he needs to be and tries to do the best that they can.

Does Marvel currently have something actively cooking for Luke Cage, or are you trying to help them get a film off the ground?

They have something in mind, I think, and I definitely want them to see that I’m extremely passionate about it. I’m extremely passionate about being that character. I will do anything to get that role. It strikes me. It’s very personal to me. I hold onto it. It’s something that I desire more than just about anything that I can think of right now, as far as work goes.

Is there anything over at DC?

I mean, you have to pick what team you’re on, and I don’t want to say that I’m not a DC guy, but I definitely grew up a Marvel maniac. That’s what I read all the time. I don’t want to say that I don’t like Superman, Batman, Aquaman, all those guys in the Justice League. I think they’re all great, but my attention kind of goes towards “The Avengers” and “The New Avengers,” “The Secret Avengers” and everything that they’re doing now at Marvel I like.

New (Old)? No, I’m not drunk…Well, not that drunk. This trailer is the first completely English language version of an X-Men: First Class trailer we first saw with Russian dubs, then with Japanese subtitles. You’ve seen the trailer, but now you get the full Americanized experienced. So it’s new, but it’s not new. Get it? Good.

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